Slayers Age
by whit19
Summary: My first Slayers fanfic please R&R! Story takes place after Try. Join Lina and friends as they try to fight against a mysterious time sorcerer but there's much more to the story than that. Chapter 3's up!
1. Prologue

_Author notes: Well this is my first Slayers fanfic and hope people like it. Some of the characters might be OOC because I haven't seen the entire Slayers anime, (but I will soon thanks to that complete box set I'm getting.) but I'll try my best to try to keep them IC._

_Special thanks goes to Vega Knight, Nagafan, and Kaitrin  
And also Saffire Persian for beta reading!_

Prologue

A man in a dark blue robe jumped backwards to dodge a medium sized orange ball of fire as it exploded upon contact with the rocky soil. He covered his pale face with his black-bandaged hands to avoid getting dirt and dust in his dark green eyes. A moment later, the dust died down and the man looked at the opponents who launched the attack.

There were two figures several feet away from him. One was a male and the other was a female. The male was probably around the height of six foot and was wearing a simple plate of blue armor. The small female, however, looked more like a sorceress than a knight with her pink shirt and tights, cape, and gloved hands.

The man in the dark blue robe finally spoke. "So, have you finally come to surrender yourself . . . Lina Inverse?"

Lina Inverse pushed her long orange hair out of her face. She let off a warm smile. "Nope. Not in this lifetime."

"Then," the man bellowed, "prepare to feel an excruciating amount of pain!"

"The only one who's going to feel pain is you!" The blonde haired knight retaliated.

"That's the spirit, Gourry." Lina grinned as she slapped him in the back of the head with so much force he stumbled forward, almost tripping.

Gourry held the back of his head. "What did ya do that for?"

"What I do?" Lina asked, looking up at him. "All I did was encourage you."

"No. You did this!" Gourry growled, slamming his hand against Lina's skull.

The strike made her squat. She mimicked Gourry's actions, holding the back of her head as she rose back up. "That was uncalled for!"

She grabbed his lengthy hair and pulled on it.

"Ow! Stop it, Lina!" Gourry shouted. "Let's see if you like it!"

Enduring the pain, Gourry reached out, grasping a portion of Lina's hair and repaid the favor.

"Hey! Don't pull on my beautiful hair!" Lina spat out. "Let go!"

"Let go of me, then."

"You first!"

"No, you first," Gourry growled, refusing to relent her handful of hair. "You started it."

The man in the robe stared at the two with disbelief, eyebrows twitching. They probably forgot that he was even there. He glanced at the large white moon suspended in the dark sky and the large open field they stood in, before turning his back to Lina and Gourry, who were now pinching each other's face. He cleared his throat loudly. The two stopped fighting and stared at him.

"Now, let's get down to business." The man looked deep into Lina's light crimson eyes. "I'll ask you one last time: join us now or face the consequences."

"Ohh! Consequences!" Lina replied sarcastically. "I'm shaking in my boots."

The man scratched his head. "I'm guessing that was a no?"

"You got it," Lina nodded.

"Why you little…" The man growled as several veins popped out of his forehead.

"We're not scared of you," Gourry started, unsheathing his sword. "After all, you were the one who ran away from us the last time we fought."

The man blushed. "My magic was weakening at that time, but now I'm back and ready to kick some ass!"

"Well, now's your chance to prove it," Lina said, as she formed an orange fireball in her hand. "Fireball!" She shouted as she hurled the attack at the man.

A devilish smirk appeared across the man's face. He stretched out his hand and a quick gold light flashed: "Slow down!"

Lina and Gourry gasped. Her fireball spell was no longer speeding towards the man. It was now steadily creeping through the air extremely slow. It almost looked like the fireball was struggling to fly forward. Once the fireball was a few inches away from him, he simply stepped aside and watched the fireball travel away into the night.

"Time magic?" Lina revealed. "You know time magic? That's pretty impressive; and all this time I thought you were just some low class magician."

"Why thank you, my dear," The man showed his gratitude by taking a bow.

"But it won't be enough to stop us!" Gourry shouted, as he bolted towards the man grapping his sword tightly.

Another gold light flashed from the man's hand, slowing Gourry down to a snails-pace. Gourry noticed the extreme decrease in his speed and stopped. "What the hell?"

"That was a very unwise move, buddy," the man taunted as he walked up to Gourry. "Here, try to hit me."

The plain look on Gourry face vanished and was replaced by a furious one. It took him nine seconds to lift his sword up over his head.

"Now, you do realize that at the speed you're going, you won't be able to cut through me," The man chuckled. He glanced at Lina. "Feel free to help your boyfriend out at any time."

Lina's eyes narrowed. "He's not my boyfriend!" She took out a sword from a sheath on her belt and charged at the man.

By this time, Gourry's sword was only a few inches away from touching the man's forehead. The man focused his attention back on the knight. "You're too slow!"

He knocked Gourry down with a fist to the face and grabbed Gourry's sword before it could touch the ground. He used Gourry's sword to block Lina's. Lina slashed at him with her sword continuously but the man easily blocked every sword attack she could deliver. He swung his sword vertically at Lina, but missed when she jumped back to dodge it.

"Damn it!" she cursed.

The man bent down and placed his hand on Gourry's back, who was trying to get to his feet but couldn't thanks to the time magic. A light green orb surrounded Gourry and made him float in midair. He banged on the orb but he couldn't get out, he was trapped inside the magic prison. "Lina! Get me outta this thing!"

The man dashed at Lina and swung at her again with Gourry's sword, but she rolled out the way, running as soon as she got to her feet. "Ray wing!" She yelled as she leaped into the air, now flying like a bird, an invisible shield of wind around her.

"Ray wing!" The man repeated as he flew after her.

The man pursued Lina in the air, gradually gaining on her. Lina suddenly spun around to face him. She positioned her hands as if they were holding a bow. "Flare Arrow!" four arrows made out of fire appeared in front of her and sped toward the man, who was forced to dive down to avoid the flaming arrows. The attack exploded off in the distance and the chase continued.

Lina quickly descended back down to the ground next to the immobilized Gourry. She glared at the man and put her hands up. A gust of wind immediately began to build around her. "Diem Wing!" Just before the man could reach Lina he was blown backwards by a strong blast of wind.

He was blown a far distance only able to stop himself once the wind had died down. He stayed hovering in the air for a few seconds just before he flew towards Lina again.

"It's time to end this!" Lina said, turning to Gourry. "Don't worry, Gourry, I'll get you outta there in just a sec. Just let me deal with him first. Then we can collect our reward!"

Her gaze turned back to the robed man in the air, who was now a few yards away. She sighed and began to build another spell. "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows, buried in the flow of time, in thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness, let the fools who stand before us be destroyed by the power you and I possess. Dragon Slave!"

An enormous dark red beam formed out of Lina's hands and surged toward the man, now only a few feet away. He gasped in fear. He had forgotten all about Lina being able to cast the Dragon Slave. The beam was closing in on him with frightening speed and he knew he would have to think of an idea quickly, or it would all be over. After a moment, an idea popped into his head. He outstretched his arms and a mysterious black hole materialized in front of him, seconds before the beam made contact with his body.

Fortunately for him, the black hole absorbed the powerful beam, but there was also a drawback. He was having a hard time closing the black hole back up. The space in time was starting to suck everything in front of it -- grass, dirt, rocks, whatever was on the ground, was being drawn in. Even Lina was being pulled in. She fought against the rip through time trying to run away from it, but the force was too great. She screamed as her body slowly went into the darkness, stopping once she had completely vanished within the void.

The man struggled to control the black hole, closing it before it could suck up the trapped Gourry. "Whew, that was a close one," the man commented.

"Lina!" Gourry shouted. "Lina! Come back! LINA!"

"Uh… I really didn't want to do that," the man replied as a large drop of sweat ran down his face. "But I had no choice, I couldn't slow down something as powerful as the Dragon Slave. Lucky for me, I can cast future time warps quickly," A toothily grin appeared on the man's face as he ran his hands through his jungle green hair and flashed Gourry a peace sign.

"Where is she?" Gourry yelled. "What did you do to her, you monster?"

"I haven't the slightest clue where she is now," the man said. Noticing the knight's venomous look, he said hurriedly: "I didn't kill her. I just sent her through a time warp, no idea what future timeline though…"

"Damn you!" Gourry yelled, fighting hard to break free of his magical prison. "Just wait until I get outta here. You'll be sorry."

"Come now. You're in no shape to threaten me, blondie," The man chuckled. "I have the power over you now, and you have to listen to me. We're going back to the boss. He'll be happy to know that we've attained a new swordsman for his army. Time to go. Ray Wing!" A hidden shield of wind appeared around him, and he flew off with Gourry inside the prison orb.


	2. Chapter 1

_Author notes: Well… After a long wait, chapter 1 is finally done. Hope you guys like it, but let me say a few things. I felt that this chapter was a bit choppy and odd... I also tried my very best to keep Lina in character. Also, I know my description isn't the deepest, but I still try._

_Special thanks goes to Saffire Persian for beta reading._

Chapter 1: Welcome to a new world, Lina

Lina had lost the will to scream once she opened her eyes. She saw multiple bright colors above and below her. It was like she was in a rainbow colored outer space. Her body moved along smoothly, as if she were flying. She no longer felt in danger, but she felt worried as she began to wonder about Gourry and what may have happened to him. But as Lina started her deep thoughts, the bright colors around her dimmed and she could see a white light at the end of the void, that grew brighter and brighter, until it blinded her. She finally passed the blinding light and, as her vision began to return, land. She softly landed on a sidewalk and glanced around in every direction. No one was around, but she could not help but gaze up at the buildings that surrounded her: they were tall and sturdy looking, the sun's rays refracting of the glass.

Something red with people inside whizzed by her, too fast for Lina to identify what it was. "Where… am I?" She asked herself.

Realizing that she was the only one in the area, she started to walk hesitantly forward. It was better than just standing around, in any case. And though she felt the urge to fly, she doubted it was a good idea -- for all she knew, this place might have a law against flying. A couple more of those strange objects sped by, differing in color. They certainly weren't flying.

Far on the other side of town, a brown skinned boy walked through his school's double doors, and into the oddly colored indigo hallway, already full of teenagers. He made his way to his locker – again, an odd color: green - entering the combination. Once opened, he unzipped his backpack and took out three textbooks, only putting two in his locker. The other, he kept in his hand. He shut his locker, continuing on down the highway until he came across a long, blonde haired girl at her locker.

Looking around, he quickly ripped out a hairbrush from his pocket, brushing his short black hair until he was satisfied, before putting it away, just as quickly. Taking a deep breath he cautiously walked up to where she was, leaning against a nearby locker.

"Hey."

She turned to him, her dark purple eyes meeting his friendly black eyes. "Oh, hey, Whit." She didn't sound too thrilled.

"What?" he said, feigning hurt. "You don't sound happy ta see me," His eyes focused on her well-developed chest hidden in her white shirt, but quickly returned to meet her eyes.

"Oh, it's nothing," she said. "I'm just a little tired today. I really didn't wanna come to school today."

"Who does?" Whit agreed. Feeling the need to change the subject, he said: "So… Did ya think about what I said yesterday?"

She closed her locker, holding her physical science book against her chest. She sighed. "Whit… you know I have a boyfriend. I can't go out with you."

"Ah, come on, Nicole!" Whit exclaimed. His 'cool' act had all but melted. "You don't need him! I'll treat you so much better than he would."

A warm smile graced Nicole's face. "If you would of only told me you had feelings for me before, I might have gone out with you."

"But wasn't it obvious?" Whit questioned her. "We've been friends since we were kids."

Nicole avoided eye contact with him. "That's another reason why we shouldn't go out with each other."

"Why?" Whit asked. He knew what she was getting ready to say. All girls seemed to say this to their childhood male friends, once they wanted to start a serious relationship.

"Because-" Here it was. "-It would ruin our friendship."

Despite the fact he had foreseen the remark, he could not help but feel he had been shot full in the chest. At that moment, all the confidence he once had faded away -- along with his happiness. His smile disappeared, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not get it back.

Nicole, noticing his changing expression, felt guilty. "Don't be sad. You're still my best friend, and I'll always be there for you," She quickly changed the subject. "Well, I better get going, the bell will ring in a few more minutes."

She began to walk off, but Whit followed her. "Can I walk you to class?" he pleaded. "I'll even hold your book for you."

"But won't you be late for your class?" Nicole asked.

"I don't care," Whit continued. "I've never been late to class, so I won't be getting a detention."

"Ok then," Nicole smiled, as she handed him her book.

The two walked side by side and arrived at Nicole's classroom in a matter of seconds. They gazed into each other's eyes.

"Thanks, for walking me to class," Nicole said.

"Anytime," Whit answered, handing the textbook to her. His eyes slowly dropped down to her lips.

"I'll see ya next period-" Nicole flinched, when Whit gently placed his hand on her tanned face.

She felt paralyzed by his touch, but also felt safe. Her eyes danced as she stared into his. He carefully edged his face in closer to hers and closed his eyes. This was it! This was the moment he was waiting for! …Just a few more inches… He felt it… But it was not soft it was hard and rough… and it hurt… A lot. He fell backwards to the ground, an intense pain throbbing in his cheek. He opened his eyes.

There was a male teenager standing next to Nicole, clad in a football jersey. He was extremely muscular and much taller than Whit, who was barely over five foot six. Fear jolted through Whit, at the stare he was getting from the brown haired football player. All around him, students were gathering.

"Rolf!" Nicole yelled at him. "Don't hit him!"

"Don't hit him?" Rolf asked, turning to her. "He just tried to kiss you. He tried to kiss my girl. Did you expect me to just stand around and let him do it?"

"No… I…" Nicole began.

Rolf cut her off. "No, I don't need to hear your excuse for not resisting. We'll talk after I'm done with him," He walked up to Whit and lifted him up by the collar of his long black shirt.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" The students chanted together.

"Kick his ass, Rolf!" A student shouted out from the crowd.

"I will," Rolf replied. He saw the frightened look in Whit's eyes and smirked. He enjoyed the fact that he was scaring him. He pulled his fist back and brought it forward connecting with Whit's face. Whit was sent soaring backwards and rolling across the ground several feet away.

"Rolf! Stop it!" Nicole screamed, grabbing his hand.

"Shut up!" Rolf bellowed as he pushed her down.

Nicole fell on her behind and looked up at Rolf. She became teary eyed. He ignored her and continued the fight.

"That's how you handle a woman," another student commented.

Rolf stomped and kicked Whit repeatedly in the ribs and skull as he lay on the ground.

"Kick his faggot ass, Rolf!" Another student cheered on.

Rolf picked up Whit by the head and saw the hurt expression on his face, hot tears running down the offender's cheeks. Rolf harshly threw him. Whit's spine hit a locker and he fell flat on his face. Rolf stood over him. "Come on, you pussy! Try stealing my girl away from me now that I'm here!"

Whit held his ribs and staggered back to his feet. He was in a lot of pain and it felt like his face was swollen. Without warning, he jumped at Rolf and drove his fist into his face with all his might, causing them both to fall to the school floor.

The crowd gasped. None of them were expecting Whit to actually hit him. Rolf glanced at the crowd and shrugged like the hit was nothing. "Was that all you got? You hit as hard as my five year old sister."

Rolf stood up and approached Whit, but before he could do anything else a tall, skinny man stood in front of him with his hands out. "Alright, Rolf that's enough! You know there's no fighting in school."

"Well, Mr. Smith," Rolf said, trying to sound innocent. "He started it. He came out of nowhere and attacked me. I was only defending myself."

"Can it," Mr. Smith retorted. "You can't fool me. You started the fight. You always start the fights. I should suspend you."

"But you won't," Rolf grinned. "Because I'm the captain of the football team and you want to win this year, right?"

"Keep talking like that and I will suspend you indefinitely," Mr. Smith replied, looking angry.

Several other teachers were already moving the student spectators back to the classroom.

Rolf looked down at Whit disdainfully. "Hey, Whit! This isn't over. Meet me after school and we'll finish this!"

And with that, Rolf stomped off, not even bothering to see if Nicole was ok or not. Mr. Smith and Nicole went over to Whit and helped him to his feet. Nicole still had tears running down her face. It was not because she was in pain: it was because her best friend and boyfriend were fighting each other over her. She fixed her eyes on Whit's face. His tears had stopped flowing and he was now extremely upset. There was no blood on his face but his cheek and left eye were swollen. He gritted his teeth and forced himself not to look at Nicole as two teachers helped him to the nurse's office. He didn't want her to see how weak he was. She probably thought he was a wimp and an idiot for trying to kiss her.

The school nurse took him in. Mr. Smith left the room, but Nicole stayed for a long enough to mutter the word "sorry" before leaving. The nurse checked Whit for injuries, but other than a few bruises he was fine. After that, she let him rest on one of the beds in the office. He never slept though; he just lay there for the rest of the school day, wondering why things never seemed to go his way and how he could get away from Rolf after school.

The last bell rang signaling the end of school for today. As soon as he left the nurse's office he bolted towards the school exit but just as soon as he hit the outside Rolf was there, waiting for him. He wasn't alone either. Two other members of the football team were with him. Both of them wore mischievous expressions on their faces, and all were as buff as Rolf was. Whit knew then escape was inevitable: even if he called for help he'd have to fight them eventually. A hopeless expression appeared on his face and he hung his head in despair.

Rolf rested his arm around Whit's neck. "Come on, buddy, let's go." Rolf said, letting off a vacant smile.

Rolf led Whit forward and the other two members of the football team followed. Rolf took Whit into a dark alley a good distance away from the school. The fake smile on his face disappeared and turned into a furious one. He shoved Whit forward, making him stumble.

Rolf cracked his knuckles. "Any last words before we begin?"

"Just one," Whit said. "Why are you fighting me? You already beat me up earlier. I understood the message you was trying to send me and I won't try to take your girl anymore."

"No… you didn't learn the lesson yet," Rolf continued. "You'll do it again, so I have to teach you why you shouldn't ever go near Nicole ever again!" He turned to his two friends. "Go get 'em, boys!"

With the snap of his fingers, his teammates rushed at Whit all at once. Whit swung at the first person that reached him only to miss when the guy dodged under his fist and dealt a powerful blow to his stomach, knocking the wind right out of him. The second guy let out a fast fiery of punches to Whit's face and sent him flying back, knocking over a trashcan in the process.

The guy who attacked Whit first dropped his elbow on Whit's vertebrae and kicked him in his bruised ribs continuously, then picked him up by the arms and let the other guy kick him in the groin. The cruel hit caused Whit to cry in agony and tears to drop down his face. The first guy released Whit from his grasp and watched as he curled into a ball on the ground holding his lower body part.

"Hold him up again," Rolf ordered. "Let me get some hits in."

Rolf's two teammates did as they were told without hesitation and held Whit up by his arms. They too were enjoying every moment of this and felt no sympathy for Whit. Rolf smashed his fist into Whit's face and then bashed it into his gut. The hit was so hard that it forced Whit to cough up blood, landing on Rolf's football jersey. This only made the football captain angrier, making a sudden uppercut under Whit's jaw and then grabbing him by the head and slamming his knee into his face. Whit's nose began to bleed.

About a few yards away, Lina was still exploring the new world she had arrived in. She passed by a few people who commented under their breath about her outfit but she ignored them. Their clothes, to her, were extremely weird as well. Her feet hurt, and she was hungry. Lina suddenly no longer cared who saw her flying in the air. Who knows, maybe they would see her as an angel and worship her.

Worship? Lina liked the sound of that.

"Levitation!" She yelled, manipulating the air around her until she was floating in the air.

Lina stared in amazement at the ground below her. Not only did the buildings go on forever, but she realized that there were no castles here and this certainly didn't look like any kingdom she had seen or heard of. Still hungry, she descended to see if she could locate any restaurants, but no luck. She did however, gain attention for the people who just happened to look up to see her soaring through the air. People pointed and gasped in astonishment as they watched her fly by.

"Mommy, was that a witch?" A little girl asked.

"Didn't look like any witch I've seen before," her mother answered.

Lina rose up higher and turned to the west she noticed that this part of the city was more disserted than the east side. She was getting ready to turn back around but she heard the sound of a voice call out. She wasn't sure what it said but she did hear the words "help" in it.

She stayed hovering in the air. "Help?" She repeated. "Someone needs help… maybe they're being attacked by bandits!"

She lowered herself and flew around hoping to find out where the voice came from.

"Help!"

'There it is again,' Lina thought. She traced the voice and saw a teenager being beaten up by three other people who were all dressed in the same uniform, but had different numbers on the back. "Ok, here we go," She said to herself.

Meanwhile back on the ground, Rolf slapped Whit across the face and watched him fall to the ground face first. He wiped the blood on his hand on the brick wall next to him. "Have you had enough yet?" Rolf asked.

He snapped his fingers and his two friends walked over to his side. The sound of Whit's muffled crying satisfied him. He turned away. "Come on, boys, let's go."

Before the three could leave a feminine voice called out to them. "Hold it right there!"

They turned to the voice to see a small girl in a sorceress outfit standing in front of the wounded Whit.

Rolf stared at her attire and made a small chuckle that soon turned into full-blown laughter. His friends joined in on the laughter.

"Isn't it a little too early for Halloween, little girl?" Rolf questioned. "What do you want anyway?"

"Return whatever you stole from him," Lina replied, pointing to Whit.

"We didn't steal anything from him," one of Rolf's teammates answered.

"You should really stay outta people's business, you nosy little bitch!" The other teammate added harshly.

Lina's blood boiled from the teenager's comment. "What did you just call me?"

"I called you a bitch," the guy repeated. "What you gonna do about it? Go crying to your mommy? You don't wanna piss me off."

"No, but I'll make you cry to your mommy," Lina hissed as lightning formed in her hand. "Digger Volt!"

Lina launched the dark blue electricity from her hand and watched as her spell electrocuted all three of the football players before exploding. Once the dust and dirt cleared, Lina noticed all the football players were stacked on top of each other, their clothes torn and their hair frizzy from the constant streams of electricity that now ran through their bodies.

Lina clapped the dust off her white gloves. "That'll teach you to mess with me," she turned to Whit, who was still face down on the ground. "Are you ok?" She lifted up his head and saw his sad, bloody face. She shrieked and let go of his face. "Obviously not…"

Lina placed her hand on Whit's back and closed her eyes. "Oh blessed and humble hand of God, life and breath of Mother Earth," Lina felt a strange tingling sensation rise within her as she continued the chant. "Come before me and show your great compassion and deliver us!"

A bright ball of light formed in her hand and covered Whit's body. After a moment the ball of light on his back faded away. He slowly looked up and saw Lina towering over him. She smiled. "Good as new."

"Huh?" Whit spoke as he felt his face. His face was no longer bloody and he felt normal. All the pain had gone away, he really was good as new. He stood up and looked at Lina and then saw Rolf and his friends unconscious behind her. "What did you do?"

"I beat up those guys and healed you," Lina revealed.

"You did what!" Whit bellowed with disbelief. "But-but how?"

"Now tell me…" Lina said, ignoring his question. "Why were those guys attacking you?"

"It's a long story," Whit went on. "You sure you wanna know?"

"No not really," Lina replied, casually. "Now how 'bout a reward for saving you?"

"A reward…?" Whit repeated.

"Yeah, I at least deserve some kinda reward for saving your life," Lina grinned, while putting her hand out. "If it weren't for me you'd be dead right now. So hand it over. Money, food, whatever it is give it to me."

"But I don't have anything" Whit declared.

"Then I'm afraid you're useless to me too," Lina said, as a light orange ball of fire formed in her hand.

Whit flinched and crouched down holding his head. "Ok, ok, don't hurt me! I'll give ya whateva you want!"

"That's more like it," Lina nodded, as the fireball disappeared from her hand.

Whit stood back up. "You hungry?"

Lina jumped in his face with exhilaration. "You have food!"

Whit edged away. "Well no, but we can go to a restaurant. Whichever one you like and I'll pay for it."

Lina giggled happily. "You sure know how to treat a lady," she grabbed his hand. "Levitation!"

After a moment, the two were high in the air. Whit panicked and screamed as his eyes bulged out from fear as he stared at the ground far below him. He held Lina's hand tightly.

"Relax. I won't drop you," Lina reassured. "Now show me where the restaurants are at."

Whit pointed in the direction they were supposed to go and Lina took off like a jet making Whit scream in terror. After a few minutes, Lina landed in front of a restaurant, seemingly pleased with her choice. They took a sit at one of the tables and waited for a waiter to come to them. Lina pounded on the table, chanting wildly. "Food, food, food!"

"Jeez! When was the last time you ate?" Whit asked.

"Hours ago," Lina claimed. They sat there in silence until Lina decided to start a conversation. "So tell me. Where are we?"

"What do ya mean where are we?" Whit asked. "You live here right?"

"Actually, no I don't," Lina said.

"Then how'd you get here?" Whit questioned. "Let me guess, you flew here."

"Well… I didn't fly here," Lina started. "I was sent here by a time mage."

Lina saw several question marks appear above Whit's puzzled face. She heaved a long-suffering sigh. "You don't know what a time mage is do you?"

"Oh, I know what it is," Whit answered. "I play video games, but come on seriously. We know time mages aren't real."

"Yes, and I suppose magic is fake too?" Lina replied sarcastically, with a raised eyebrow. 

"Yep," Whit nodded, with his eyes closed.

Lina gritted her teeth and slammed Whit's head into the table. "You moron! I was just using magic!"

Whit held his hurt face. "Oh yeah… I forgot."

"Please don't tell me he's an idiot like Gourry," Lina whispered to herself in disappointment.

"You never told me your name," Whit replied, looking into her beautiful crimson eyes. "My name's Whit."

"And I'm the beautiful, genius sorceress Lina Inverse!" She exposed.

"Wow… A sorceress…" Whit slowly said with a blank stare. He turned away from her. 'There's no such things as sorceresses and magic… and yet she really does know magic. Take that all you non-believers!' Whit thought as he began to laugh. He stopped once Lina threw a saltshaker at his head. He turned to her.

"What's so funny?" Lina asked, going on the defensive.

"Oh, it's nothing, Lina," Whit shook his head. "I just can't believe that magic and sorceresses are real."

"You mean you've never seen one?" Lina inquired with a surprised expression. "What kinda world is this?"

Before Whit could say anything else, a waiter had finally arrived at their table. "What will you two have?"

They both exchanged glances at each other.

"Why don't you order first, Lina?" Whit beamed

"Sure," Lina smiled back. She opened the menu in front of her, scanned the list and closed it.

"Well, what're you getting?" Whit asked.

"I'll take everything on the list," Lina responded.

"What!" Whit and the waiter yelled simultaneously.

"You heard me," Lina said, plainly.

"But-but-but," The waiter stuttered.

"No, buts about it," Lina answered him. She grinned at Whit. "What will you be eating, Whit?"

Whit shut his jaw. "I think I'll pass on eating… Think I might go on a diet too."

"If you say so," Lina replied.

"That's one helleva girl you got there, sir," The waiter whispered in Whit's ear.

"She ain't my girl," Whit corrected him.

"I'm hungry!" Lina whined. "Hurry up and serve us the food!"

"Oh! Right away ma'am!" The waiter replied, as he hurried off to the back.

After a few minutes of waiting, all the food Lina ordered was placed on the table. There wasn't a single empty spot left on the table all was covered by plates of different foods. Hamburgers, turkey, ham, rice, spaghetti, fried fish, pasta, macaroni, soup, pizza, salad, sandwiches, chicken wings, chicken nuggets, the list just went on and Lina was devouring one plate after another without the slightly indication of quitting.

Whit watched in awe as Lina ate up everything in front of her. Now that she was too busy to notice him he studied her body. She really was beautiful to him… But she was nowhere near as developed as Nicole was. As he compared the two girls together he was unaware that Lina was staring right back at him.

"What's wrong?" Lina asked with her mouth full. 

Whit didn't even hear her talking to him. He was still too busy thinking of which girl was better. He snapped out of his thoughts once Lina smacked him on the head with a drumstick. "Don't ignore me when I'm talking to you!"

"Oh, sorry, Lina," Whit apologized, rubbing his head. "So, Lina you say you don't live here, right?"

"That's right," Lina confirmed, in between bites.

"Well… If you don't gotta place to stay why not spend the night over my place?" Whit insisted with a mischievous expression.

"You won't charge me rent will you?" Lina questioned, growing suspicious. 

"No," Whit said. "I'll let you stay with me as long as you'd like… If it's ok with my mom that is."

He reached over to try and grab a slice of pizza. Lina spotted his hand and slapped it before it could obtain the food. "Hands off! If you wanted food you should of ordered some."

"Aw, can't I get one little bite?" Whit whimpered.

"Nope," Lina shook her head. "I'm a growing girl and growing girls need their food."

"But growing girls never eat this much… Except for fat ones maybe." Whit added.

Lina gripped Whit by the throat. "Hey! Are you calling me fat!"

"No!" Whit quickly replied. "You're far from being fat!"

She released him and drank her drink.

'She's gonna end up killing me,' Whit thought as his face slightly twitched.

The waiter came back, handed Whit the check, and walked off. A large drop of sweat ran down his face when he glanced at the price.

$627.98, the check read.

"Good lord that's a lotta money!" Whit nervously said to himself. "It's a good thing I gotta credit card,"

As soon as Lina was finished eating all her food, Whit paid the restaurant with his credit card and the two walked outside. The setting sun was making its way over the horizon, a beautiful collage of pink and orange, though Whit barely noticed as he directed Lina to his house. As they sat in his room, Lina told him a little about her past and told him how she arrived here in his timeline. Once they heard the click of the front door, they went downstairs and saw a middle aged, brown skinned woman with medium long black hair standing at the door.

"Hi, mom!" Whit greeted her overdramatically as he hugged her.

"Wow, you actually gave your own mother a hug today?" Whit's mother smiled, hugging him back. "What's the special occasion? You want a new video game or something?" She saw a disgusted Lina behind him. "Why, hello there and just who might you be?"

Lina pasted a cheerful look on her face. "Hi! My name's Lina Inverse," she made herself sound childish and sweet.

"Yes… But what are you doing in my house?" Whit's mother questioned, she glanced down at Whit, who was still hugging her. "What I tell you about having your friends over while I'm not home?"

Whit's eyes became large, and puppy like. "But mother, you don't understand. I found Lina outside. She was tired, hungry and had no place to go," Whit tried his best to sound depressed. "She begged me for food and I took her to a restaurant. She told me she ran far away from home to get away from her horrible parents."

Lina followed up on Whit's fake story. She wiped her eye as if she were on the verge of crying. "Yes, my mom and dad were both alcoholics and would always argue and beat me every day. So one day I ran away and vowed to never return home. Living out on the street proved to be more difficult than I thought it would be and I didn't want to be taken in by an orphanage," Lina walked over and held Whit's hands sincerely. "Then I met your son, who was kind enough to help me out."

Whit laid his dispirited eyes on his mother. "She has no place to stay mom… So… Can we keep her, huh, can we?"

Lina dropped her act and smashed Whit down to the ground with her fist. "I'm not a pet!" She screeched.

Whit's mother laughed. "Sure, Lina can stay for as long as she likes."

Whit's head shot up from the ground. "You really mean it!"

"Yes," Whit's mother nodded.

Whit stood up and jumped with his fist in the air. "Yeah!"

'There's one thing that bothers me,' Whit's mother thought, while looking at Lina. 'What's with her weird clothes?'

As soon as night came around, Whit let Lina have his room while he slept on the couch downstairs.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Magical Days

Whit sat in the back of the classroom, listening to his English teacher lecture the class with his usual boring voice. Actually, his teacher's words were going in one ear and out the other, Whit was too busy thinking about yesterday to focus on what his teacher was babbling about. His eyebrows twitched and an angry look emerged on his exhausted face. Lina had almost kept him up for the entire night. He flashbacked to what had happened.

Lina woke him up as he slept downstairs on the couch and felt the need to talk to him about the rules of magic and bits and pieces of her past. She did this –partly because she could not sleep and because she wanted someone to talk to. Whit was so weary that he nodded off constantly as Lina's mouth ran at a hundred-miles-per-hour, and every time he did she would wake him up with a whack to the skull. There was no end to her jabbering. Even when she paused for a second her voice still echoed through Whit's mind. He had the urge to tell her to shut up and go away but he enjoyed her company too much.

After she was done talking to him, he decided to show her some of the objects around the house, since she told him that she had never seen a TV or a car before and because she would be alone at the house tomorrow until he got home from school. Once it was all over, her orange hair turned black and she kissed him with unconditional love...

No wait… That was the part he dreamed last night…

Whit broke his chain of thought and pounded his fist on his desktop, gaining the attention of everyone in class.

"Mr. Alexander, is there something wrong?" His teacher asked him.

Whit glanced up at a tall, chubby man with medium length black hair and beard. "No, Mr. Cupclean."

'God, what a stupid last name,' Whit thought.

"You sure?" Mr. Cupclean said, with an amused face. "You appear to be displeased with something."

"No, it ain't nothin'," Whit replied.

A wide grin showed on Mr. Cupclean's face. He loved having the opportunity to correct his students. "Ain't isn't a word and neither is 'nothin.'"

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Whit dryly said.

Mr. Cupclean let out a sarcastic laugh and went back to teaching class.

Whit went back to pondering. He recalled what Lina did to him in the morning. He had been awaken by the sunlight and had at least forty minutes before he had to leave the house to catch the bus. He ran upstairs to take a shower but to his dismay, Lina was in the shower. What was she doing up so early? She does not go to school. He was irritated for a moment, but all that drained away once he noticed that she did not fully close the door. He excitedly peeked through the crack of the door and saw a naked Lina bathing in the bathroom. Well… He didn't really see her body completely naked; the thick shower door was blocking him from getting a clear view.

He was unaware that his mother caught him in the act until she told Lina about it when they were eating breakfast. Lina handled the situation by attacking Whit with some magic whip she called a Valis Rod and if that wasn't enough she ate up two cereal boxes all by herself in less than ten minutes.

Whit snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the bell ring. He and the rest of the students made their way out of the room while Mr. Cupclean hastily told them what their homework assignment was for tonight. Whit ignored it though and headed for his next class. He caught a few nasty glares from some of the school's football players out of the corner of his eye but pretended not to see them. They were evidently angry about what had happened to Rolf yesterday. Lina's magic spell must have really injured him badly since he did not bother to show up to school today. There was no sign of Nicole either. Was she at Rolf's house checking on him or were they…? Whit wiped the immoral thought from his mind.

Back at the house, Lina was sitting on Whit's bed using the TV remote to flip through channels. Television was so odd to her; watching people in a box try to entertain her with all sorts of different things. All of them appeared boring to her in one form or another: The comedy shows did not seem to be funny, the action shows were anything but exciting, drama was too depressing for her, and she was not too fond of romance. Finally, she stopped at a show that caught her eye. It was about a teenaged sorcerer attending a high school while trying to keep his magic hidden from his peers – normally, this wouldn't have grabbed Lina's curiosity, as it seemed so bland, but it was so alike to her situation, she felt connected to it.

After a while, Lina was no longer paying any attention to the television show at all. Her mind had drifted off to vital matters. How would she get back to her own time and more importantly what happened to Gourry? What did that time mage do with him? Surely, he did not kill him. Well, she hoped not. Lina shook the horrible thoughts from her head; just thinking about it made her feel weak and disheartened but she knew she had to keep a positive outlook on how things will turn out. She will return to her own time and Gourry will be fine, but the question remained: How? How would she get back to her own time? She possessed no time magic of her own and apparently, that would be the only way to go back in time. Then an idea came to her: maybe there is a magic bookstore somewhere in this time period that might have some information on time magic. It was a far-fetched idea, but to Lina anything was better than just sitting around doing absolutely nothing. She turned off the television with the remote, stood up and headed out the room.

Whit finished jotting down his notes for psychology class and walked out the room with the rest of the students just as the bell rang. He went straight to the gym and into the boy's locker room. He was the first one there, which was not surprising, considering that most of his fellow classmates were often 'too busy' talking to their girlfriends to get to gym early or on time. This, Whit thought glumly, was something he didn't have to worry about. He had no girlfriend of which to talk to, after all, not to mention he had very few friends. Whit had always thought his senior year would be so much better than his last three years in high school, but it was the same as it was before, unless you count Lina Inverse showing up in his life.

Whit looked around the ancient gray locker room. He plugged his nose to avoid the rotten stench of armpits and trash. The janitor never cleans the locker room; it's been this way for years, even before Whit was in high school. He sat on the left steel bench and took off his backpack to get out his gym clothes. As he took off his baggy blue jeans and long white shirt he returned to thinking about Lina. He only knew her for half a day and was already dying to talk to her again. Sure she annoyed him with what she did yesterday but she was interesting, attractive, free spirited, and of course, she beat up Rolf and healed him. Ever since he met her, she was all he was able to think about. Was it infatuation? He could care less. Just being around her made him feel good. More so than when he was ever around Nicole. It was not because of her being a sorceress or some girl from the past… it was something else… something more…

A mass of male teenagers barraged into the locker room and changed into their gym clothes. Whit slipped into his gym clothes and went out the locker room and into the enormous gym. He observed all the nets connected to two poles each. Volleyball would be the sport to play today. Mr. Carl, the gym teacher came into view when he stepped out of an unknown room from the other side of the gym. He was checking his watch, obviously waiting for the students to come out of their respective locker rooms. The girls were the first to arrive; the boys came out of their locker room a few seconds later. Whit and the students got in their sitting arrangements on the floor and Mr. Carl took row call. As soon as he was done he told everyone to get into groups of four. Not waiting to be left out, Whit asked around, and placed himself in a group. Mr. Carl handed out several volleyballs and the games quickly began, with the accompaniment of a loud, rather obnoxious country song.

"All right Whit, you better not screw this game up like you did last time," one of the members on his team commented.

Whit looked back to see a pale, muscular, black haired male who was a few inches smaller than him. He was probably as tall as Lina. Whit smirked. "Don't worry, Jack. If you got my back we'll win."

"Look out!" a girl on their team shouted.

Whit snapped his head forward just in time to see a volleyball streaking towards him. He easily slapped it back to the other side, but it was quickly sent back over by the other team. Whit messed up his hit this time and Jack gracelessly dove and smacked the ball back in the air before it could hit the ground. The girl on Whit's team jumped up high and struck the ball with her hand standing it over the net. One of the guys on the other team accidentally slowed the ball down because it hit his chest. Knowing that he could not hit the ball twice he rolled out the way and another person hit the ball so hard that it almost hit the ceiling. As the volleyball dropped down the other team moved out the way as their tallest member waited for the ball to come down a few more inches. Whit and his team stood silent waiting for the opposing team to strike back. Finally the tall male leaped into the air.

"Spike it!" One of his teammates yelled as the tall male whipped the volleyball downward at an alarming speed.

Before Whit could react, the volleyball had smacked him in the face and caused him to do a double back flip and land on his face.

"Damn, that's gotta hurt," Jack remarked with a painful expression.

The other team square danced with each other for their victory dance, which fit the country music that reverberated throughout the gym. Jack and the other two members looked on with disturbance.

Lina traveled around the city in search of a bookstore but was unable to find one. Like yesterday, everyone who past by stared at her sorceress outfit with wonder and confusion. Since she was outside she thought she might as well go and eat. She entered a restaurant and ordered a large pile of food like she always does and was able to pay the waiter with a few gold pieces she kept in one of her many hidden cape pockets. She demolished her chicken and worked on her hot dogs. 

"I can't believe there's nothing useful in this stupid city," Lina angrily talked to herself. "I should just wait for Whit to get home so I can ask him if he knows any places where they might have magic books." Although, Lina figured, that since there were no magic users here, there really would not be any magic books.

Lina arrived back at Whit's house and sat up in his room watching TV like she was previously. The sorcerer show had ended a long time ago and she was back to flipping channels until she quit and forced herself to watch whatever was on television. The channel the TV fell on was a story about a guy falling in love with a rich woman. At first Lina hated the movie but after a while she got used to it. The television helped Lina escape her thoughts on Gourry and soothed her mind.

After two long hours, school was over and Whit was on his way home. As soon as the bus dropped him off he hurried home like an energized little child, who only wanted to play his video games. But not Whit, he was racing home so he could meet something much more important than some video game. He squeezed through a crowd of people on the sidewalk and increased his speed tremendously when he spotted his house a few yards away. He ran up his porch, dug in his pocket, took out his key, unlocked the door, and burst through the door. "Hey, Lina! I'm home!" He happily shouted as he tossed his backpack to the side. He was so thrilled that he did not wait for her response. He ran up the stairs and went in his room to see Lina focusing on the television.

Whit stood beside her and looked at the TV. On the screen a man and woman were passionately kissing while a familiar romantic song played in the background. Whit immediately recognized it as a song from his childhood. He listened to the words.

"Oceans apart day after day and I slowly go insane.  
I hear your voice on the line but it doesn't stop the pain.  
If I see you next to never, then how can we say forever?  
Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be right here waiting for you."

Ironically, he hated this song with a passion, but hearing it again after all these years gave him a mystic and affectionate feeling inside as the song played on. He turned to Lina. "Well, I'm home," he wanted to hug her but he knew that if he did he would certainly be punched in the face for it.

A stunned expression appeared on Lina's face for a second. The movie had distracted her from her surroundings. She stood up and greeted him with a warm smile. "Welcome home, shorty."

All the romantic tension in Whit seeped out from Lina's comment. He hutched over and clinched his fists. "Shorty? You can't call me short! I'm taller than you!"

"Yeah, but only by a few inches," Lina chuckled. "You're still short for a guy."

"Oh yeah!" Whit shot back, pointing a finger at her. "Well you-"

Lina hid her fists because she knew he was going to make fun of her chest size like all men do.

"Well you…" Whit paused and dropped his finger. "I… I can't say anything… You're flawless."

Lina was taken aback by his response. No guy had ever told her she had a perfect body.

"What did you just say?" Lina asked, pretending not to hear what he said.

Whit gulped. Nervousness had taken over his body, his heartbeat quickened and he was beginning to sweat. "I said you were flawless. I can't make fun of you."

Lina hearing him saying it a second time shocked her just as much as the first time. She was flattered. She always had a high self-esteem and saw herself as a faultless lady, but most men never agreed, mainly because of her height and underdeveloped body. Lina blushed. They fell into silence and just stared at each other. Whit squeezed his fists tightly and bit his lip.

"So anyway," Lina awkwardly said, breaking the silence. "Is there a magic bookstore in this city?"

Whit wiped a bit of sweat off his face. "No, but there is a library that might have magic books there."

"It's worth a try," Lina replied.

"Yeah…" Whit concurred. "Let me guess, you trying to find a magic book that has time spells in it?"

"Yep, you read me like a book." Lina winked.

Whit sniggered at Lina's pun.

"Well, I did promise you last night that I'd help you get back to your own time," Whit reminded, walking closer to her. Lina slightly backed away from Whit as he stood so close to her. He cupped her hand in his and gazed at her with innocence.

Lina pulled away from him. She was unsure on whether he was being serious with her or just joking around. She turned back to him and scowled. "Don't get weird on me now, Whit."

"Aw, come on, you know I'm just kidding around," Whit laughed sheepishly. "We should go to the library now and get it outta the way."

"Sure, good idea," Lina commented, as she turned off the TV with the remote and tossed it on the bed. "Shall we?"

"Uh huh," Whit nodded as he led her out the house.

The two walked side by side. With Lina by his side Whit felt an incredible amount of joy consume him. He had not felt this kind of feeling since he was a kid. His house could explode and he would still be overcome with delight. He could not help but let out a bright smile, he was also greeting every person that past them by. He looked at Lina. "Hey, Lina, ya hungry?"

"No, I ate lunch two hours ago," Lina answered. "You should have been there. The food was great."

"You went outside?" Whit inquired, obviously knowing the answer.

"Yeah," Lina said plainly.

"Why didn't you just eat the food in the fridge?" Whit asked.

"If I did that you guys would have no food left in the house," Lina explained. "You know how much I eat."

Whit got in her face. "It didn't look that way this morning when you ate two boxes of cereal."

Lina snickered and pushed his face away. "Actually, I ate another box when you left."

"Damn… Where does it all go?" Whit replied, judging her slim body. "I don't think you got one single piece of fat on ya."

Lina quickly became hostile and grasped Whit's shirt. "Hey! Are you making fun of me!"

"What? No!" Whit replied, putting up his hands in mercy. "All I'm saying is that it's weird how you eat more than a hippo but don't gain a pound."

Lina freed him. "Why didn't ya just say so?"

After a few more minutes of walking, they arrived at the library. They made it in just before it began to rain. Lina wasted no time in searching around for magic books. Whit on the other hand took a seat in one of the chairs next to a table in the middle of the lobby. The library was totally empty. Lina and Whit appeared to be the only ones visiting today. There were three librarians sitting at the main desk checking out files at their computer and doing other business related things. Besides the faint sounds of the computer beeping, the rain relentlessly beating on the windows, and Lina's footsteps it was absolutely quiet. Whit tilted his head back and saw the dim lights hanging from the ceiling. He shut his eyes but they snapped back open when he heard the frightening sound of thunder boom outside.

Whit looked forward when he heard Lina's footsteps gradually becoming louder as she approached him. Several books were stacked in her hands. She dropped them on the table and took a seat across from Whit.

"You sure these books have real magic spells?" Whit asked, grabbing one of the books and scanning through it.

"I'm not exactly sure," Lina responded grabbing one of the books. "But I'll be able to tell if it's real or not by looking at how it's written."

"And why's that?" Whit questioned, putting the book back down on the table.

Lina kept her eyes glued to the book she read. "Because, there's a certain way magic books are written that set them apart from the phony ones," she closed the book she was reading and pushed it away. "That one was fake."

Whit handed her the book he was reading. "What about this one?"

Lina took the book from him and quickly read the pages. "Nope, this one's a fake too," she tossed the book back on the table and took another and another and another… "Bogus, fake, forged, crap, crap, more crap," she commented on all of them. Every single one of them were fake magic books. Lina stood up and walked off and came back with more books, which were fake as well. She grabbed some more books and kept doing so until their table was piled with books from all over the library, all of which were phony.

"Well… It was worth a try like you said, right?" Whit replied, sliding a heap of books out the way to see Lina.

Lina was slightly angered by her fruitless search. She growled quietly to herself and balled her hand into a fist.

Seeing Lina angry made Whit tense up and pick out his words carefully. He did not want to get hit by Lina. Her punches hurt even more than Rolf's.

"You tried. Sorry we couldn't find a real magic book," Whit said trying to comfort her. "Don't get mad, I promise we'll find some kinda power to send you back to your time. Even if I gotta build a time machine for you."

Whit saw some of the anger fade from her eyes. He happily pat himself on the back reassuring himself.

Lina smirked. "Thanks, Whit."

"No problem," Whit answered.

"So… We're done here," Lina acknowledged, getting out her seat and walking away.

Whit reached his hand out as if he could stop Lina from walking away. "Wait Lina, shouldn't we put these books back?"

Lina stopped, closed her eyes and went into a thinking pose for an instant. Then her eyes reopened and she finally answered. "Nah."

Whit fell over with his legs twitching in the air.

Whit and Lina stood by the entrance of the library a few seconds later. The rain was pouring down fast and hard and showed no indication of slowing down. Lina showed no concern for the rain and advanced into the raindrops. Whit stood by the entrance and remembered seeing an umbrella in the library on the right side of the entrance next to the men's bathroom. He was not going to steal the umbrella… he was just going to borrow it for a while. He ran back inside in the library.

Lina absently strolled through the rain. She was a little annoyed with the constant rainfall but as long it was not harmful she was fine with it. Suddenly the rain stopped. Wait… No. Lina still heard the sound of rain beating down but she was no longer getting wet. A shadow cast over her and shielded her from the raindrops. She glanced to her left and saw Whit standing right next to her holding a black umbrella above them. She laid her eyes on his and they both stopped walking, falling into silence once more.

'What was he thinking behind those dark eyes?' Lina wondered. If only she could read his mind. Why does he always look at her like that? Was there something on her face? He was by far the strangest guy she had ever met. No guy has ever acted this way towards her and unlike most of the men she knew, he was respectful to her and friendly… almost too friendly today. Even though she was thinking about Whit, she could not help but think of Gourry too for some reason… The thick tension rising between the two was starting to get to her, she desperately thought of a way to kill the moment.

"Thanks, buddy," Lina replied, as she snatched the umbrella away from him and walked away.

Whit nearly tripped over from Lina's reaction. He frowned and felt a deep coldness sweep over him that was not from the rain.

Lina spun to face him. "Just kidding!" She walked back to him and covered them both with the umbrella.

Whit's smile resurfaced and he held a part of the umbrella with Lina as they began to walk home.


	4. Chapter 3

Well here's chapter 3, if anyone's actually readin this story. My description was lackin in this chapter badly. :p

Chapter 3: Newfound hope?

"Interesting…" Lina commented, reading a newspaper while sitting on Whit's bed. "This could be just what I been looking for."

It had now been four whole days since Lina crossed over to this timeline. She enjoyed the fact that things were almost always peaceful in this era but it was beginning to become dull. The sorceress felt the urge to go back to wild adventures, slaying monsters, and finding valuable treasure. She was also growing more concerned for Gourry everyday.

Meanwhile, school had ended and Whit was on his way home. He stepped off the bus and happily marched onward.

"Thank god it's Friday!" Whit said. "No school tomorrow and there's a party tonight? This week just keeps getting better and better!"

He walked up the porch, unlocked the front door and danced his way inside, closing the door behind him.

"Hey, Lina!" Whit called out as he made his way up the stairs and into his room. He saw Lina's eyes affixed on the newspaper.

Her eyes drifted to him. "Hey, Whit," she answered with a smile.

"Did you miss me?" Whit asked, removing his backpack.

"Nope," Lina chuckled.

Whit let off a grin so bright that it nearly blinded Lina.

He walked over and sat next to her. "So, what ya reading?"

"Check this out." Lina showed him the article.

Whit only read the title in bold print. "Ancient books uncovered in ruins now on display at the Amalthea Muslim." He looked at Lina and set the newspaper aside. "Oh, please. Don't tell me you think one of those old books have time spells in it."

Lina nodded. "Yep, that's right. You never know."

"And you want me to go with you?" Whit questioned as a frustrated expression appeared on his face.

Lina slightly frowned. "What, you don't wanna come or something? I thought you enjoyed being around me all the time."

"I do, but…" Whit started. "There's a party tonight."

"So?" Lina crossed her legs and folded her arms. "Why's that so important?"

"So, I wanted you to go with me," Whit said.

The first thought that popped into Lina's mind was a bunch of drunken men groping her and doing immoral things to her body. She moved a few inches away from him. "Uh, no thanks."

"Why not?" Whit inquired. "It won't be bad, I swear."

"I got better things to do than waste my time getting intoxicated." Lina turned away from him.

"No one said you had to drink," Whit replied trying to persuade her. "If anyone gives you problems, I'll take care of it."

Lina laughed. "I doubt I'd need protection. Especially from someone like you, or did you forget that I was the one that saved you?"

Her vulgar remark strung deep into Whit's soul. He disappointedly stared down at the floor. Lina was right, she was the one that saved him from possible death and fought off Ralph. He was utterly useless to her. He did not know any magic spells, he was not a good fighter, and certainly was not a genius.

Lina turned back and saw Whit's sorrowful expression and began to regret what she said. She did not mean to sound rude, she also was not expecting her comment to affect him this greatly. It looked as if someone he loved had just died right in front of him.

Lina laughed awkwardly and playfully slapped Whit's back. "Oh come on, Witty Whit, I'm just joking. Don't take things so seriously."

Whit glanced at Lina and put on a feebly smile but remained silent.

"Now what will you do?" Lina asked. "Will you go with me to the museum or will you go to that party without me?"

"Uh, there's no way I can get you to go to the party?" Whit questioned.

"Maybe if you paid me enough," Lina started. "But other than that no. Don't worry, I can be just as fun as any old party, believe me."

"Maybe I can do both?" Whit questioned. "We can go see the ancient books and make it back in time for the party!"

"I really don't wanna go," Lina answered. "But if one of those books possess time magic I might be in a good enough mood… I'll think about it, okay?"

"Fine," Whit simply said.

"Then it's settled." Lina stood up. "We should get going now."

Whit got up. "But what about my mom?"

"Just leave her a note," Lina responded.

"Alright then… Um, Lina?"

"What?"

"You think you can change into clothes that are a little… Normal?

"Fine, whatever. My outfit needs to be washed anyway."

A few minutes later, Whit and Lina departed from the house and waited on a bench by a bus stop. Lina insisted that she would fly them to the museum but Whit disagreed saying the people would think she was an evil witch if she flew. So instead of using magic, Whit decided they should depend on the local bus to get to their destination. It did not take long for the navy blue bus to pick them up. Whit picked a seat and Lina sat next to him. She saw him take out a square electronic handheld system. He turned it on and began playing a game titled 'World Saviors.'

"What's that?" Lina asked, staring at the small screen on the handheld.

"It's called a Gameman," Whit explained, picking his eyes glued to the screen. "Don't tell me they don't have these in your time."

"Nope, never heard of those," Lina said.

Whit gritted his teeth as he feverishly pushed two red buttons on the right side of the game system. On the screen a fiery aura surrounded a pixilated human-like cat as he shot off several fireballs from his hand at various, mysterious monsters. Suddenly a human that fascinatingly resembled Whit and a spiky haired ninja came across the screen and slashed wildly at the monsters the human-like cat was fighting with swords.

"Don't they have any type of video games in your time?" Whit asked.

"Perhaps. I never seen one though," Lina replied. "Can I try it?"

Whit paused the game and handed it to her. She resumed where Whit left off and repeatedly pushed the red buttons hoping to win. On the screen a teenaged girl in a short-skirted school uniform appeared next to the human-like cat and his allies. Lina continued to push buttons and the school girl began to effortlessly toss the enemies around by using psychic powers. However, a strange man dressed in a dark purple robe appeared on the enemy side of the screen and with one powerful blast the human-like cat, the school girl and their two friends were exterminated. The words 'game over' flashed across the screen in big bold, black letters.

"Damn it!" Lina swore, gripping the handheld tightly as if she were trying to break it in half.

"It's okay, I always die at that part too," Whit said. "I need to level up Rogan and Andrew a little bit more."

Lina handed the game back to Whit. "This stupid thing's a waste of time." She stared outside the window.

Noticing that Lina was no longer paying him any attention he slowly glanced at her body. Lina looked even better in modern day clothes than she did in her sorceress costume. Whit had let her wear one of his red shirts and jean shorts. Even though she was not wearing her old clothes she kept her earrings and headband on. Whit could understand the earrings but he did not see why she always kept her headband on. Lina did tell him it was magical but its not like it was the source of her power. His eyes dropped down to her figure again. Try as he might he could not fight off his perverted thoughts and soon enough he began to sweat and breath heavily. He looked away as soon as Lina glanced at him.

As the bus ride continued Lina eventually started chatting about her adventures. She informed Whit about her fights against Shabranigdu, copy Rezo, Gaav, and Fibrizo, her search for the Clair Bible, and her unbelievable battle with Dark Star. She also told him more about her friends: Gourry, Zelgadis, and Amelia. Whit was lost on most of the discussion but he processed to listen. The bus arrived at the museum an hour and a half later.

The two got off the bus and Lina immediately sprinted into the gigantic building with delight. Whit followed but paid more attention to the well-built museum. It was much larger than his school and appeared extremely sturdy. He entered into the building and saw Lina staring at something contained in a glass display. He stood next to her and saw that she was gazing at one of the ancient books. The book was a blackish gray color and the cover had several scratch marks on it.

"Aw, come on!" Lina replied growing annoyed as she pressed her fingers against the glass. "When they said it was on display I at least thought we could pick up the book and read it." She looked at Whit. "You think all the books in here are like this?"

"Probably so," Whit said.

Lina angrily sighed. "Great, this is just great." She furiously ran her hands through her hair.

"Don't get upset, Lina," Whit replied, trying to calm her. "Who's to say that these ancient books are even magic books? They might be fakes just like the ones we saw at the library."

"Well…" Lina balled her hand into a fist. "There's only one way to find out!"

"What, no!" Whit shouted.

Whit threw himself into Lina's fist in an attempt to stop her from scattering the glass. He was struck in the stomach by the punch with such force that it knocked the wind out of him. He fell to his knees and held his stomach. The situation caught the attention of a few other people in the building but they all eventually just shrugged it off and laughed. Most thought it was just a random couple fighting each other.

Lina looked down at the fallen Whit. "What the hell are you doing! Why'd you stop me!"

Whit slowly rose up while still gasping for air. "You can't do that, we'll get in trouble."

"So what!" Lina retorted. "None of these people can stop me!"

"Are you saying that you're trying to steal!" Whit shot back. He could not believe what he was hearing. "Since when did you become a thief?"

"I'm not stealing," Lina denied. "I'm borrowing."

Whit nearly fell over from her response. "I can't believe you!"

"Well, sorry what else am I supposed to do?" Lina said. "You'd do the same thing if you were in the same situation as me."

"But, Lina… still… you can't steal." Whit struggled to keep himself calm.

An evil glare surfaced on Lina's face. "What, are you gonna try and stop me?"

"Lina, come on, please don't be like this," Whit begged. "There has to be another way."

She looked away, placed her hand under her chin and began to ponder as if she were reconsidering.

Whit's whole image of Lina was now ruined. He did not want to believe that she would steal. It made him rethink about what kind of girl Lina really was. Maybe she was banished to this timeline because she was trying to destroy a city or kill someone important or maybe he was just jumping to ridiculous conclusions. He was so confused and was beginning to get a headache.

"Whit…" Lina called his name in a soft tone as she looked at him. "I need to do this… Gourry could be in a lot of trouble and might need my help. I won't take the ancient books now in front of all these people… I'll do it when the museum is closed at night. I know you don't see eye to eye with me on this but you have to. I don't wanna hurt you, you been too nice to me…"

Whit hung his head in shame. "It doesn't really matter what I say, does it? I can't stop you anyway." He straightened up and looked her straight in the eyes. "Let's just try not to get caught!"

"What?" Lina shrieked. "What'd ya mean we?"

"I dunno…" Whit paused. "I know what your doing is wrong, but I wanna be there with you…"

Lina examined his face. "Huh? After all that fuss you wanna help me anyway?"

"I'll do whatever you want… Well almost," Whit shrugged. "I just hope we don't get caught. Mom will kill me if we do."

"Hey wait," Lina started. "What about that party?

"Screw it," Whit answered. "Wouldn't be any fun without you." He warmly smiled.

She returned the smile. "Let's just hope these ancient books are what I'm looking for."

For the rest of the day, Lina and Whit hung out at a hotel a few blocks away from the museum. Most of those hours were spent eating, sleeping, plotting, and watching television. Whit felt like he was going insane. He was going against his morals just to be with Lina. He could have never thought he would turn into a crook. He fought with himself wondering if it was really worth it. His mind was telling him not to go through with it but his heart was urging him to. He thought about it for all those hours and in the end he decided to listen to his heart instead of his brain. Before they came to the hotel, Whit had bought himself a facemask and got Lina a hat and some shades for a disguise.

Lina really was not thinking of anything during all the free time. She only prayed that the ancient books held time magic in them. She knew getting the ancient books would not be difficult but the fact that she had to keep Whit and herself undetected might be a challenge.

As soon as it became eleven at night, Lina and Whit left the hotel and headed for the museum. Once they were a few yards away from the building, Lina put on her hat and shades and took to the air. She scouted the area and spotted a few policemen around the museum. She hoped there was some type of opening at the top of the museum but unfortunately no luck at all. There was no way for them to sneak in because there was no other way into the building except the front, which was guarded by three policemen. She returned to Whit and landed.

"Well, how does it look?" Whit inquired.

Lina took off his shades for a moment. "Not very good. We can't really get in without being seen 'cause they got guards at the doors."

"Then how about a distraction?" Whit suggested. "I'll get them to chase me while you go inside and get the books."

"And risk you getting caught?" Lina said. "Here's a better idea… Let's just forget this whole James Bond thing and just blast our way in!"

"But we don't wanna kill anyone," Whit replied.

"Relax, I won't kill nobody, just hurt 'em," Lina said.

Whit shrugged and put his black facemask on and followed Lina as she darted towards the museum. The two cops at the entrance immediately saw them and took out their guns and aimed at the two of them.

"Freeze!" one of the policemen commanded.

The other cops around the area came to their friend's aid and aimed their guns at Lina and Whit as well.

Both Lina and Whit stopped. With a devilish smirk, Lina positioned her arms as if she were holding a bow. A look of nervousness appeared on the officers' faces when they saw frost in the form of a bow appear in her hand. One officer fired but the bullet only scraped her cheek.

"Freeze Arrow!" Lina shouted as three arrows made of ice formed in front of her and streaked towards the policemen. The three officers that were hit with the arrows became incased in a block of ice.

"What the hell?" one officer cussed.

The remaining policemen quickly became horrified. One man slowly backed away while another dropped a pistol because of his shaky hands. Lina wiped the speck of blood from her cheek and charged forward and delivered several punches and kicks to the policemen until all of them were knocked unconscious.

"Piece of cake," Lina commented as she walked over the defeated cops and blasted the gateway down with a fireball.

"Guess you really didn't need my help after all, imagine that," Whit dryly replied as he trailed after her.

Lina and Whit saw that there were countless sensory beams scattered all over the room. Since the beams were low to the ground, Lina simply flew Whit and herself over and descended next to the ancient book they encountered earlier.

Lina stretched her hands out. "Flare bit!" Four small orbs of light materialized in her hand and caused tiny, harmless explosions as they hit the glass display.

The glass was easily shattered and Lina grabbed the book and handed it to Whit. She flew them to the last two books, using the same spell to break the glass and take the book. After that, she raywinged the both of them out of the museum and back to the hotel. Before they went in they removed their disguise gear and threw it away in a trashcan near them.

They greeted the clerk as they passed by, went up an elevator and entered their room as quickly as possible. Whit placed two of the three books on the bed and opened the one he had in his hand.

Lina beamed. "What does it say! What does it say!"

Whit slowly flipped through the pages and began to panic. His eyes grew wide with confusion.

"What, what's wrong?" Lina asked, walking up to him.

He grimly looked at her. "Uh, I can't read any of this. It doesn't even look like it's in regular English."

"What!" Lina screeched as she snatched the book from him. Her frustrated soon disappeared as she scanned one of the pages. She began to laugh, but it was not an evil or angry laugh it was a happy one.

"You're not mad…?" Whit froze, thinking Lina had finally gone insane.

"You may not be able to understand the text, but I can," Lina said with a smirk.

"So, is it a magic book or not?" Whit questioned. "If it is, is it fake? And how can you understand the book? What language is it?"

"Shut up, give me a minute to read a little," Lina answered in an irritated tone. "Go watch that box thing, whatever it's called."

Whit scoffed as he walked away from Lina, grabbed the remote off the TV set and turned it on. He sat on the bed and boringly watched television. He was actually becoming sleepy and could not help but yawn.

Lina continued to read the book; her eyes sparkled with an undying joy. "I can't believe it!" She squealed. "This is a miracle, Whit! This is exactly the book we were searching for!"

Whit stood and walked over to her. "So, it's not fake and has time magic in it?"

Lina nodded. "Yeah."

"What about the other two books?" Whit pointed to them. "You think they're time magic books too?"

"They could be," Lina replied not bothering to look at them. "This is the spell I need to use to time travel. According to the book, it takes a lot of magic energy to cast the spell though."

"Well, give it a try," Whit insisted.

Lina turned away from Whit and began to translate what the book said. "Oh, golden entity that controls space and time, grant thy power to me and allow thy to cross over the vast, chronic seas of time to embark in a new age! Time travel!"

Lina and Whit stood silent, expecting some type of magic to unfold in front of them, but after a moment, the two realized nothing was happening.

"Why isn't it working!" Lina bellowed. "I read the spell precisely as it was written."

"Maybe you need to do a dance?" Whit proposed. "Or maybe you need to be jumping around while doing it."

As stupid as it sounded, Lina tried both of Whit's ideas and chanted the spell but once again nothing happened.

Lina scratched her head. "I don't get it. Am I not strong enough to activate the spell or something?"

"Maybe you're reading it too fast or too slow," Whit guessed. "Maybe the entity doesn't like you or maybe its sexist or-"

"Or maybe you should just shut the hell up!" Lina replied as a vein bulged out of her forehead. "If you think you know so much then you try it!"

Lina tossed the book at Whit, which knocked him down as soon as it made contact with his skull.

Whit unhurriedly stood back up and rubbed the large bump on his head. "Ouch. I was only trying to help, you don't have to hurt me." He picked up the book. "Do you remember what page you were on?"

"Don't worry about that, just repeat what I said a few minutes ago," Lina demanded.

"Oh, okay," Whit said with a determined expression. "Oh, golden entity that controls space and time, grant thy to me," as Whit continued he began to feel a bit nauseous. It as if something was rising out of his stomach and up his throat. "And allow thy to cross over the vast, chronic seas of time to embark in a new age! Time travel!"

Once again the two waited a moment but nothing seemed to happen.

"Sorry, Lina, I tried," Whit frowned.

Lina shrugged. "I knew it wouldn't work, I mean you don't even know how to use magic in the first place. I'm really starting to get pi-"

Lina choked on her words when she and Whit noticed a golden orb begin to materialize amid them. Both of them were too shocked to utter a single word to each other. Lina was more dumbfounded than Whit due to the fact that it was him who activated the spell instead of her. The mystical light from the orb bathed the room in its gold color and almost blinded Whit and Lina. The orb began to occasionally change colors and expand while the room stayed gold.

Everything just seemed to unreal to Whit. He glanced around the room and saw that stars were starting to appear out of nowhere. It was a magnificent sight to behold but it somewhat frightened Whit. The orb had now become long enough for a person to walk through it.

Lina finally was able to speak. "Is-is that a rip through time?" She slowly approached it and cautiously reached out.

Before she could touch the hole…

It suddenly vanished.

"Huh, No!" Lina shouted as she frantically grabbed at nothing but air hoping the void would reappear.

The stars gradually faded away and the room returned to its ordinary appearance. The magic spell had clearly ended.

Lina turned to him. "Whit, cast the spell again! Right now!"

Whit breathed hoarsely. For some reason, he was now extremely exhausted and could barely move his body. He felt his eyelids become increasingly heavy until he could no longer reopen his eyes. As he fell forward, Lina ran forth and caught him. She lifted him up and carried him over to the bed.

Lina looked him over. She knew he was still alive, his soft snoring indicated that. The spell most of took a lot of energy out of him. She could not believe that he was able to cast a time spell but she was not. It did not make any sense at all. Whit was not a sorcerer so how was he able to activate a spell? Much less a spell that not even Lina could call forth. It was unbelievable but for once, Lina needed Whit to assist her. She had realized that he was now the key to her escaping from this timeline and getting back to her own. Without him, she would be stuck here forever.

The teenaged sorceress ran her hands through his hair. She found it funny. Who would of thought she would need help from someone in this magic less world, especially from someone like Whit? It was strange to her. Had she never met Whit she would still be trying to figure out a way to get the time spells to work. She doubted anyone else in this pathetic timeline could trigger time magic.

Lina tucked Whit under the covers and sat down in a chair. She picked up the time magic book and continued to read. She occasionally tried to perform some of the time spells, but like before she was unable to. She read until she became too tired and dozed off while still in the chair.


End file.
